Though spirit-wise he’s a Colorado boy, Executive Chef/Owner Bill Espiricueta was born in Austin, Texas. He’s been eating, making, and enjoying BBQ with a fiery passion since a young age, getting his professional start at Kansas City’s progressive Bluestem Restaurant before jumping to fine dining, working with Chef Nobu Matsuhisa at Nobu in downtown Dallas’s Crescent Hotel before finding his way to Colorado, where Bill worked closely for many years with some of Denver’s most esteemed culinary talent.
In 2018, he opened the first restaurant of his own, Smōk, a RiNo barbecue spot combining influences from the most iconic barbecue-making regions around the country with Bill’s own global travel and culinary inspirations, paired and executed with the sensibilities and high expectations of a fine-dining chef.
